The following is an email I received from Jessica who blogs at This Blessed Life:
I just wanted to share with you (and your readers) how helpful I’ve found your site throughout different phases of my life! I first started following you back in 2007, when I was a new wife with a lot of time on her hands after work to cut coupons, look for deals, and plan my store trips.
Fast forward six years and I’m now a stay-at-home mom (still faithfully reading MoneySavingMom.com!) with a preschooler and an infant. My daughter was born in January with a lot of health problems, and while she is doing fine now, I still haven’t fully gotten back into my “coupon groove” like before.
Honestly, I just don’t have the time or desire right now to bring both of my kids to lots of stores and search out the best deals! As they get older, shopping will get easier, but right now what works for me is to focus on the local grocery store and CVS with the occasional Aldi or Target trip thrown in.
I’ve learned that it definitely doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Saving my family some money is better than not saving any money at all!
That said, every week I faithfully scan your CVS match-ups to see what deals I can do there. After I read your match-ups for inspiration and printable coupon links, I go ahead and look at the weekly ad online to see if there’s anything else there that interests me.
Two weeks ago you posted an amazing diaper deal that resulted in $12 Extra Bucks back when you spent $30 on diapers and wipes. I used your match-ups and printable internet coupons (doesn’t get any easier than that!) to purchase the diapers and wipes, netting me $12 ECB to roll toward this week’s deal. I was pretty happy with my out-of-pocket expense!
CVS Shopping Trip
Scott toilet paper – $7.77
4 boxes of Kleenex – $.99 each
5 cans of Bumble Bee tuna – $.77 each
Old Spice deodorant – $2.67
CVS baby wipes – $2.99
Rolo candy bar (filler item) – $1.19I used my $12 EB from two weeks ago and stacked it with:
– $4/$20 CVS purchase, via e-mail {I signed up for CVS e-mails ages ago, thanks to your tip!}
– $6 ECB from nearly a month ago that I meant to use on the diaper deal but couldn’t find it at the time. Whoops! 🙂My subtotal after the coupons was just $.43, with $.02 CT tax on top of that.
So everything in the picture above was just forty-five cents! PLUS my quarterly EB printed out from the coupon machine, giving me $2.50 to work with next week.
Are these items at rock-bottom prices? Definitely not. And I didn’t use a single coupon other than CVS coupons. But they were all true necessities for us this week (well, except for the Rolos – those were just filler and made my husband happy!), and doing easy deals like this at CVS is what works best for my situation right now.
And for less than two quarters?! Yes, please! 🙂
Jessica is a former elementary music teacher who is now a stay-at-home mom (and wife!). She is passionate about Jesus, her family, healthy eating, adoption, Starbucks coffee, decorating on a dime, and thrifting like it is her job. (If only!) You can catch Jessica at her blog, This Blessed Life.
Have you gotten a great deal thanks to a tip you’ve found here on MoneySavingMom.com? Take a picture of your deal/purchase and write a short post on the deal details and submit it here. If your submission is chosen to be posted, I’ll send you a $25 Amazon gift card! Note: the more creative, unique, and well-written your post, the more chance it will have of being posted.
Marlin says
Wow…what a great deal you made ! I went to CVS yesterday and bought worth of stuff $20 spent $8 OOP and got 5 ECB back. I’m still learning with this drugstore 🙂 Thanks for sharing !
Jessica @ This Blessed Life says
Thanks, Marlin! I think you did great – it’s definitely a learning curve, but a fun one! 🙂
Kathy says
Great job! Love your honesty with this. So many times people think it has to be some mega super duper deal, but you did great with what you got! You’re doing what’s best for your family, and that’s all you can do. Keep up the great work! 🙂
Jessica @ This Blessed Life says
Thanks for your encouragement, Kathy! 🙂
Amie says
Good job! I think there are times in life when it is easier to shop all the deals and times to back off. I’ve been a big coupon user since trying to cut costs to afford a second child almost 4 years ago. I became pregnant with my third child and morning (ok, all day) sickness hit in December. It was about all I could do to drag myself to work and care for my kids at home. I really cut back on shopping and we lived off my stockpile for several months and just bought what we needed. It still cost me more out of pocket because I was not doing multiple stores, but I’m proud to say that I only ran out of wipes and Pull Ups once and had to pay full Walmart prices. For the past few mos I have been couponing and deal shopping like crazy as I try to get ready for the baby next month. I am back to working my Swagbucks points and all those other things I do to save, but it really doesn’t have to be all or nothing to save money. I keep trying to persuade my sister (who is struggling financially, has one in diapers, and is expecting) that even if she just couponed and sale shopped for diapers and HAB items, she’d save a lot. I don’t think people realize that with great blogs, it doesn’t have to be a lot of effort.
Jessica @ This Blessed Life says
Okay, now that is really inspiring that you were able to live off your stockpile for months! Great job!!
Jennifer says
Congrats! I find getting great deals to be such an ego boost, not to mention, you’re helping your family’s bottom line. I like the fact that you’ve decided to focus on one store instead of just giving up altogether.
Jessica @ This Blessed Life says
It’s definitely exhilarating! I feel like I’m robbing CVS sometimes! haha! But I think they’re doing just fine with or without me. 😉
Valerie says
I love this. I constantly think I can’t shop at CVS if I’m not rolling my ECB’s even though there might be things on sale we can use. Thanks for helping me see “outside the CVS box”.
Jessica @ This Blessed Life says
Ditto, Valerie! I almost didn’t go there last week because I didn’t want to “waste” my Extra Bucks – I fall into that trap all the time!
Whitney Sparks says
I like how you said that “saving some money is better than not saving at all”. My husband and I were just having that discussion last night. You did a great job on your transaction:)
Jessica @ This Blessed Life says
Awww, thanks Whitney! 🙂
Meredith says
I love the comment about how the rolos made the husband happy. I too occasionally buy a junk food item for my husband. Recently, I bought his favorite cereal, cinnamon toast crunch (his fave from college). He hid it in the back of the pantry from our child and I got the royal wife treatment in return for buying it. I also love that you didn’t get the items at rock bottom prices. I tend to get caught up in not buying things when they are at my target price. Then, I will go weeks without buying them and I really needed them. Sometimes there is another way as you pointed out!
Jessica @ This Blessed Life says
Oh my goodness, Cinnamon Toast Crunch was my favorite cereal as a kid! Except we never got to eat it except on vacations and at summer camp! lol Love that he hid it from your child! Awesome. 🙂
Jen says
Gotta love a win! *high five*
Jessica @ This Blessed Life says
Thanks, Jen! 🙂